The international break interrupted the early stages of the season
with both clubs in decent form. Arsenal lost to Manchester
City last time out, but then most teams do. Other than that,
they have only lost by single goals to Watford and Stoke City,
although they did get taken apart at Anfield 4-0.

The factions within the Arsenal support are still at loggerheads and
although they haven't fought amongst themselves as much as West Ham
United London fans this season, they are still divided. Some
about whether Arsene Wenger should leave the club and others about
whether they are a bigger club than Spurs in North London.
Well, they are welcome to their petty arguments, but they will raise
their game against Tottenham as they always do.

Strangely Petr Cech is not
the Arsenal number one, as he is number 33 and back up keeper Ospina
is 13. How unlucky. Cech lacks the agility of his
Chelsea days and has found his time at Arsenal much more difficult,
with the defence exposing him more than the think blue line that
used to be in front of him. With Wenger not having adequately
replaced the back four he inherited at the club, the likes of
Mustafi, Monreal, Koscielny and Kolasniac is not that awe-inspiring,
although the Serbian full back is a threat in attack.

With many column inches
dedicated to the whole Ozil/Sanchez will they/won't they saga, much
criticism is aimed at them for disappearing in games. With
Ramsey, Walcott and Wilshere all disappointing compared to the
potential they once had, they have Bellerin relying on his pace, but
getting found out; Coquelin not developing into a regular in the
midfield; Xhaka an accident waiting to happen and Elneny signed as a
star, but only occupying a fringe role. Cazorla has been out
with a nasty reaction to his surgery that has seen him lose a large
part of his Achilles tendon.

Youngsters brought through and
bought in have failed to make the desired impact. This leaves
the side without a strong spine, players randomly rotated in the
side around the pitch, making consistency difficult. Arsenal
are good at home though and it will be a tough ask for Spurs to
bring home something from the match other than the obligatory draw
that has been the common feature of this fixture over recent years
at Highbury.

With a
1-0 victory over Palace in Tottenham's last game, we struggled to
break down a defensive side. Arsenal might have to come out a
bit, as their fans expect a win and they are at home, so it is
possible that the likes of Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen could
lead breakaways. Moussa Sissoko has also been prominent in the
team's ability to get forward from defence very quickly of late.
With a number of first teamers returning, the side will be
strengthened and while Alderweireld joins Wanyama and Lamela on the
injured list the squad is now able to cover for the absences.

With Arsenal determined to try
and get something in the credit column with their fans, they will be
keen not to lose, so Spurs might have to battle away at the home
defence, but, while I would like to see three points heading back to
Wembley, a draw might be the most likely outcome.

Click here for results, match reports and facts on meetings with
Arsenal

Arsenal TEAM NEWS :
Olivier Giroud (knock) misses the game on Saturday, with Danny
Welbeck and Shkrodan Mustafi are doubts.

TOTTENHAM
HOTSPUR TEAM NEWS :
Erik Lamela is fit, but may not be ready for a return to action yet,
while Toby Alderweireld is set for at least a six week spell on the
touchline with his hamstring pull and Victor Wanyama is still on the
road back from his knee injury. Harry Kane, Harry Winks, Hugo
Lloris, Michel Vorm and Dele Alli were all back in training this
week.

A gloomy day in North London
saw Spurs take to the pitch without Danny Rose anywhere in the
vicinity of N7, apparently not injured and left to train with the
players who were not included in the match-day squad. By the
end, it was gloomy all round the Spurs end as Arsenal registered
their fist win over us at their seventh attempt. It will
signal mass celebrating on the streets of Highbury and tweets from
perennial substitute Jack Wilshere, but will it mean much in the
long run come May ? We will see.

The early stages of the game saw the teams tentatively feeling each
other out, but Eric Dier delayed playing a pass out of defence and
it went to Lacazette to blaze his shot high over the bar. Kane
was a little more accurate when two Arsenal defenders went for the
same ball and left him a run into the box, but his final shot was
straight at Cech, who got right behind it. Twice the ball was played
to Lacazette in good positions, but the first was mis-controlled and
the second nicked away by Sanchez.

We didn't really get going in the first 15 minutes, but had a little
spell of pressure with a couple of balls into the box, with Arsenal
unable to clear the ball effectively. When they did go
forward, Arsenal got Bellerin in behind Davies on their right and
his low ball across the face of goal could not be touched in by
Lacazette, as Sanchez and Dier squeezed him out on the edge of the
six yard box and the ball went off for a throw-in on the other side
of the pitch. A home corner wasn't cleared well by Spurs and
they went through a little period where they couldn't find an out
ball. When they did and Sissoko looked to break inside his own half,
Xhaka brought him down with a rugby tackle. The game was being
peppered with free-kicks and stoppages, with Spurs grateful to Hugo
Lloris coming out quickly to clear a short back pass from Davinson
as Lacazette closed in. Tottenham's passes weren't finding their
targets, which lead to the ball coming back and when Ozil got free
on the right, Eric Dier had to slide in at the near post to concede
a corner. Xhaka had a shot blocked from it for another corner, but a
break from it came to nothing when Arsenal got numbers back around
Eriksen.

Arsenal were working hard to close us down, but when Spurs worked
the ball from the right wing across to Christian Eriksen, he slipped
a ball through, but it was between Alli and Kane and went through to
Cech. Xhaka finally went in the book in the 32nd minute for a
crude block. The free-kick was cleared and Spurs recycled the
ball for Ben Davies to pull it back for Eriksen to have a shot from
inside the box that hit the outside of Cech's right hand post. Kane
planted a firm header at goal from 12 yards out to Sissoko's cross
shortly after, but the keeper reached up to grab it.

Mike Dean was trying to prove he wasn't Tottenham's friend with a
soft free-kick for a foul on Alexis Sanchez by Davinson Sanchez, so
you know what happens next. Mustafi rose and heads in off the post
to give Arsenal the lead, which sums Arsenal up. He got up between
Dier and Vertonghen, but the ball should never have been allowed to
come in as it was a joke decision. It looked like it was “Arsenal In
Need” weekend such was the charity Dean extended to them.

Four minutes before half time, it became 2-0 when Lacazette was
played in inside the box on the right and his low ball found
Sanchez, who got the bounce and rifled the ball into the roof of the
net from a foot out at Lloris' near post.

The first half had seen the players chosen for the Tottenham side
lacking their usual sharpness in passing and movement. Dele
and Kane looked less than 100% and they were closed down as quickly
as they received the ball, allowing little time to lay the ball off.
Dembele hadn't been as effective as he can be, which is what we
needed in this match. We hadn't played well and that had to change.

Mustafi set the tone for the second half with a foul on Kane from
behind, which he was booked for and then under a lot of pressure
from Arsenal players in his face, Dean evened things up by booking
Kane with the next challenge in the match. Spurs had looked a
little more on it at the start of the second half, but high balls to
Kane were getting picked off. When it was played to him in the
box, Kolasniac blocked him and the ref played on, but a slip outside
the box presented the ball to Eriksen and he fed Harry. His
low shot from the right side of goal was blocked by Mustafi.

The transition of the ball from the middle third to the final third
was poor by Tottenham. Either by the slowness of passing or by the
failure to run it past Arsenal defenders. So, perhaps with that in
mind, Harry Winks was brought on for Mousa. The way things
were going for us was typified when Davies pulled the ball back to
Christian on the left hand corner of the penalty area, but he fired
it too high, when his shots for Denmark in midweek nestled in the
net. Spurs found themselves facing ten outfield opposition
players between them and goal in open play at times, so they needed
some guile to break through the massed ranks of red shirts blocking
their way.

Playing on the break, Arsenal's Sanchez had two shots at goal. One
high over the bar and the second weakly bobbled through to Lloris.
When Moussa Sissoko ran the ball out of defence, it looked a
promising situation, but when he got the other side of the centre
circle, his heavy touch gave the ball back to Arsenal. with 15
minutes remaining, Dele and Harry Kane were substituted with Son and
Llorente coming on, but that signalled the fact that neither were
fully fit and that Pochettino had thrown in the towel.

Lloris denied Sanchez at the near post again, getting behind his
close range shot, but Tottenham needed to give Fernando some service
that he could attack at the other end to get back into the game.
Eriksen had a dragged effort on target, but with little threat in
his shot and then a corner was headed back across goal, but Cech got
there to push the ball away, leading to a long ball out of defence,
which Lloris had to run 30 yards out to, heading it horizontally for
a throw-in. When Spurs did play a decent ball up to Llorente,
his nod on put Son in on the edge of the box, but the ball wouldn't
come down for him and he ballooned his shot over the goal.
Arsenal were sitting in and looking to hit Spurs on the break, but
most of the time, they overplayed the ball. Hugo again blocked
a Sanchez shot at the near post, while at the other end a Trippier
cross came in and Llorente was pulled down before Son hit a shot at
goal that Mustafi deflected over the top.

It was like playing Chelsea in the last couple of seasons. They
rouse themselves for one game a season. But again, it was a match
where Tottenham failed to perform as they can against a side who are
chasing them from a position below them in the table, which is where
Arsenal still are. Things have not been as simple this year
for Spurs, with teams setting up to stifle us, but we need to find
ways to get our game going when that is the way they want to play.
We failed to get our wing backs involved enough today and when we
did, their crosses were not picking out Tottenham shirts.

Most of the major decisions went Arsenal's way, when all their fans
were up in arms about Mike Dean being named as the referee in the
lead up to the game.

At least it will unite the Arsenal fans in thinking Arsene Wenger is
the most brilliant manager ... ever !

James Carroll

PUB
FACT*

Arsenal are the only
Football League club to take part in South and North London derbies.

Match sponsors

-

Match sponsors

-

Match ball
sponsors

-

Match programme
sponsors

-

Match shirt
sponsors

-

What you
thought

-

-.

-

-.

Other scores
during this week :

Bournemouth

4

Huddersfield Town

0

Saturday

Burnley

2

Swansea City

0

Saturday

Crystal Palace

2

Everton

2

Saturday

Leicester City

0

Manchester City

2

Saturday

Liverpool

3

Southampton

0

Saturday

Manchester
United

4

Newcastle United

1

Saturday

West Bromwich Albion

0

Chelsea

4

Saturday

Watford

2

West Ham United
London

0

Sunday

Brighton & Hove
Albion

2

Stoke City

2

Monday

League Table 2017-18

P

W

D

L

F

A

Pts

GD

1

Manchester City

12

11

1

0

40

7

34

+33

2

Manchester United

12

8

2

2

27

6

26

+21

3

Chelsea

12

8

1

3

23

10

25

+13

4

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

12

7

2

3

20

9

23

+12

5

Liverpool

12

6

4

2

24

17

22

+7

6

Arsenal

12

7

1

4

22

16

22

+6

7

Burnley

12

6

4

2

12

9

22

+3

8

Watford

12

5

3

4

19

21

18

-2

9

Brighton & Hove Albion

12

4

4

4

13

13

16

0

10

Huddersfield Town

12

4

3

5

8

17

15

-9

11

Newcastle United

12

4

2

6

11

14

14

-3

12

Leicester City

12

3

4

5

16

17

13

-1

13

AFC Bournemouth

12

4

1

7

11

14

13

-3

14

Southampton

12

3

4

5

9

14

13

-5

15

Stoke City

12

3

4

5

15

24

13

-9

16

Everton

12

3

3

7

12

24

12

-12

17

West Bromwich Albion

12

2

4

6

9

18

10

-9

18

West Ham United London

12

2

3

7

11

25

9

-14

19

Swansea City

12

2

2

8

7

15

8

-8

20

Crystal Palace

12

1

2

9

6

24

5

-18

Position before match :
3rd
Position after match : 4th
Position after the weekend :

* Pub facts may not actually be true, but after a
few pints everyone might think so.